Some members of the
Ohio State community are skeptical about two initiatives President William “Brit” Kirwan
announced last week to improve campus race relations.
“These initiatives are excellent as long as they are followed up by work, sincerity, honesty and commitment,” said Love Ali, spokeswoman for the
Afrikan Student Union.
Last spring, the union organized the nine-day occupation of Bricker Hall, protesting the restructuring of the
Office of Minority Affairs. Love said OSU now needs to concentrate on listening and communicating with students.
Kirwan’s first initiative includes a diversity fair to take place Thursday, and town meetings and educational field trips throughout the year. Under the second initiative, OSU will hire a consultant to analyze women and minority recruitment and retention and make recommendations on potential policy changes.
“These initiatives seem very circular in what’s been going on in the past,” said Jeff Capell, president of the
OSU College Republicans. “It’s mostly upper class white people sitting around and making decisions.”
Capell said he believes progress cannot be achieved until diversity is properly defined. He said diversity is the “number of people with different life experiences and ideas, not measured by bean counting.”
“We should define people as individuals, not as members of a large group. Anytime you interact with people it expands one’s diversity,” he said.
Capell said OSU should not center its recruitment efforts on only one area. “They need to make sure OSU gets their name out to rural, suburban and urban areas in order to increase diversity,” he said.
Some faculty also have mixed emotions toward the initiatives.
Charles Ross, an associate professor at the
College of Social Work, has been an OSU faculty member since 1970.
Ross said every new president comes in and addresses the issue of race, because it is seen as one of the most difficult issues of the time.
“Until I see a president who is willing to really put together at the highest level, a real organized effort backed up by money and resources, I am a non-believer,” he said.
Two years ago, colleges were asked to set aside funds to recruit minority faculty but it was never enforced, he said.
In order to correct racial problems on campus, $200-300 million needs to be spent, Ross said. So far, he said he hasn’t seen a president willing to raise that amount of money and give that kind of commitment.
William Nelson, a professor in the department of African-American and African studies, is supportive of the initiatives.
“Kirwan is moving in a progressive and productive direction,” Nelson said. “These initiatives are a helpful beginning, but just the beginning.”
Nelson said the initiatives are more than OSU has had before and the university should encourage this direction. He said OSU has to do more than just talk; it has a responsibility to maintain programs and take minority issues seriously.
“Recruiters out of the Office of Minority Affairs need to demonstrate to minority students that we are serious scholars, not just athletes,” Nelson said. “It should be a top priority in this university to help minority groups.”
